A DAY after Pakistan pointed to the “gap” with the United States in tackling terror, Richard Holbrooke, America’s special envoy said the Afghanistan sit- , uation can’t be settled without India’s full involvement. Holbrooke, tasked by President Barack Obama to engineer a “regional solution” to the Afghanistan-Pakistan, or Af-Pak, region, told the press that India and the US had the same goals, but little coordination in Afghanistan. Speaking in the presence of America’s top military official, Mike Mullen, he insisted on Wednesday that they were not visiting the region to negotiate between India and Pakistan. “We didn’t come here to ask India to do anything. We did not come here with requests,” Holbrooke said, stressing that his mission was to “inform and consult” with Indian officials. The envoy’s remarks are, however, at variance with what US Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said at a Senate Committee hearing in Washington on April 1. Given Islamabad’s focus on the east, “is there any discus- sion about urging India and Pakistan to continue finding a way forward on Kashmir?” Colorado Democrat Mark Udall asked at the hearing. Petraeus replied: “Together with my great diplomatic wing man, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, this effort actually has started. I met with the Indian national security adviser, for example, in Munich. We had a very good discussion. That was followed up when the foreign minister of India (actually Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon) came to Washington more recently .” In Delhi, Holbrooke, who met both Menon and NSA M.K. Narayanan, went out of his way to underline that he was- n’t in lecture mode when meet- ing Indian officials. Holbrooke and Mullen again emphasised the common prob- lems that South Asia faced and the need to work together to address these issues. “For the first time since par- tition, India, Pakistan and the United States face a common threat, a common challenge and we have a common task,” Holbrooke said. From President Obama downwards, who recently said he wouldn’t be issuing any more blank cheques to Pakistan, to charges of links between the ISI and militant outfits, there’s been a sharp ratcheting up of pres- sure on Islamabad. “On the issue of Swat I have expressed concern. The Chairman (Mullen) and I met the people from the area in order to learn more about them. It was very difficult and touching. What’s happening in Swat has stunned the people of Pakistan. The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the police academy has further raised concerns,” he said. Mullen stressed that India’s cooperation was vital to main- taining stability in South Asia. “India is a vital leader in the region. The role that India plays is absolutely critical,”Mullen said. Holbrooke also cleared that there was no talk of US-Pak nuclear deal saying that the “subject did not come up”. “We are still in the first few months of the new administra- tion. We developed a new strat- egy in the last seven weeks for which consulted the Indian gov- ernment…I came here and sev- eral senior Indian government officials were in Washington and gave their views. It is now begin- ning of implementation,” the special envoy said. Inputs from V. Krishna in Washington tushar@hindustantimes.com